Mars vs. Venus

Oh my dear, dear bloggy friends, I have missed you so much! But even as I type these words I know that I am not destined to be here long because I have much to do and the hour is late. I told a friend tonight that so much has happened since I last blogged on New Year's Day and yet very little of it has seemed blog-worthy. And right now I'm a "single mom" while Randy is away in Abilene taking one of his D.Min courses, so who has time to blog??!

I will share this story, though. I told you on Day One of this new year that the Todd family was making some changes and I am marveling at some of the HUGE ways He is working in and on us already. His mercies are new every morning, baby! So while I'm seeing some small, subtle changes here and some more overt changes there, one very tangible change that we put in place even before the clock struck midnight on Thursday morning that has reaped (mostly) big benefits is the introduction of CHORES!

I know what you're thinking--"What is she, crazy? She has four kids and she's only just giving them chores NOW???" Well, here's the thing, as I explained to my friend: We've gone the chore chart route, we've had lists, we've had laminated cards, we've even had personalized posters on the fridge, but the bottom line is that I dropped the ball. I did. Me. Andrea Todd, champion of consistency, messed up. And if I've said it once I've said it a dozen times: When I mess up, I mess up BIG.

But that's neither here nor there. The point is, we're back on track and it's making a noticeable difference in the life of our family; perhaps I should clarify that it's a noticeably good difference. But you know, my kids like to keep things interesting, keep things lively, just to make sure I stay on my toes. Tyler, Mr. Black-and-White Man, is especially fond of checking to see if I'm paying attention.

For the whole of last week I gave Darcy, my Venus-girl, "kitchen duty," which she took to like a mouse takes to cheese. No pot was too dirty, no plate was too sticky, no mess was too big that she didn't tackle it like a pro. She had the occasional question but by and large "she saw her duty and she done it" (pardon my phraseology).

After her futile attempt to turn one week of kitchen duty into a full month (again, you probably think I'm an idiot for not taking her up on her offer but that would be letting someone who shall remain nameless off waaaaaayyyyyy too easy), I gave the responsibility to Tyler this week. He had a basketball game last night that lasted until 7:30 so by the time we got home, I just wanted him to hit the shower and be off to bed. Consequently, I was determined that he was going to pull his weight tonight while I took Darcy to basketball practice.

Now I have discussed with the kids ad nauseum my expectations with particular chores, and kitchen duty is no exception. Not to mention, before Darcy had the job Randy had arbitrarily chosen Tyler to complete the task of washing all the pots and pans just a couple of weeks ago--no doubt he was "building character." So it wasn't like Tyler didn't know what I expected of him. But I made a fatal error in that before I left I said to him, almost verbatim: "Tyler, you need to clean the two pots that are sitting in the sink when you clean the kitchen."

You know where this is going, right? When I got home, guess what I found sitting polished and shining on the kitchen counter? You got it--two pots. The rest of the kitchen was a wreck but those two pots gleamed, man, they gleamed! I almost laughed in spite of myself--notice I said almost. And then I sweetly called Tyler to the kitchen and told him to finish the job. "What?? I cleaned the pots!"

It's official: There's a Martian living in my house.